Hollywood Babylon
by Aranelle
Summary: Supernatural meets Big Time Rush. The Winchesters investigate a haunting at the Palmwoods.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Supernatural meets Big Time Rush. The Winchesters investigate a haunting at the Palmwoods.

**A/N: I have no idea what inspired me to attempt this. I think most people have a basic understanding of what SPN is, if not, quit living under a rock and go watch it with its pretty boys and...yes. Just go watch it. There's links to SPN canon things that might not be common knowledge in the text, for anything else the Supernatural Wiki is a great resource.**

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><p>Dean groans as he rolls over in the passenger seat of his Impala, opening his eyes to look at Sam, who's tapping his fingers against the steering wheel and humming softly. They're on their way to Los Angeles, Bobby had sent them to check out a supposed poltergeist in some hotel for nobody actors trying to make it. They've never really been to Hollywood before, which Dean thinks is disappointing and strange all at the same time; with all the dreams that get crushed on an hourly basis out there he would've thought there'd be more suicides and vengeful spirits, demons, fuck, something. Still, they're going there now, and Dean's looking forward to it.<p>

"Where are we?" he asks Sam, who jolts out of his reverie to look at Dean.

"We're at the California/Nevada border," he says, "we're gonna have to find a motel tonight, unless you want to take over driving." Dean nods, noting how tired Sam looks.

"Motel," he says gruffly, "I can't fucking sit in this car anymore, my ass is killing me." Sam laughs at that, and Dean rolls his eyes, making himself as comfortable as he can while he watches his brother drive.

"Stop that," Sam says after a moment, rolling his eyes when Dean just stares at him innocently, "quit staring at me, asshole, it's distracting."

"You like it," Dean smirks, but he sits up and stares out the front window instead, pointing at an exit.

"Get off there," he says, and Sam follows his instruction, pulling off the interstate and into the first available motel. They pass out almost immediately upon getting into bed, too tired to go out to a bar.

The morning rolls around a lot earlier than Dean really cares for, but then again, mornings in general suck, so he and Sam drag themselves out of bed and get back in the car and before they know it they're in LA and parking outside the hotel. Dean grabs his gun and fake ID and they head in, walking up to a chubby guy at the front counter.

"Who are you?" the guy asks acidly, eyeing Sam and Dean like he'd really rather slam a door in their faces than ask how he can help them, and Dean tries to resist the urge to punch this guy in the face just for existing.

"Agents Jones and Taylor," Sam says immediately, "we're here investigating a disturbance you had last week, do you have a moment to talk to us?"

"No," the guy snaps, and Dean scowls at him, "but since you've barged in here I suppose I might as well. What do you want?"

"To talk about reports of a ghost terrorizing your tenants," Dean says, reminding himself why killing people is wrong, "we think it might be more serious than you thought." The guy, and Dean notices a name tag identifying him as Bitters, which is really fucking appropriate, gestures urgently for them to follow him into a more secluded area before speaking again.

"Don't say that too loud, if people knew there was a ghost at the Palmwoods they'd all leave and I'd be ruined," he says, looking a little panicked, "and you don't want to talk to me, you want to talk to the hockey heads, they were the ones that saw it first."

"I'm sorry, the who?" Sam asks, looking at Bitters in confusion, and they all turn to look as four kids, Dean thinks they're probably seventeen or so, run into the lobby and crash into the chairs.

"Them," Bitters groans, looking like he'd like to deck all four kids. "Hey!" he shouts, "get over here, the FBI wants to talk to you." One of the kids, a dark blond guy, turns to look at Bitters, sheepish.

"What's up, Mr. Bitters?" he asks, walking over, the other three following him. Sam immediately steps up to the kid, smiling.

"I'm Agent Jones, this is my partner, Agent Taylor," he says, gesturing to Dean, "we want to talk to you about the ghost you saw last week."

"You're kidding, right?" another one asks, and if Dean is honest with himself he's sort of reminded of Sam when he was a kid, this guy looks like the nerdy school type.

"Uh, no, I'm not kidding," Sam says, arching an eyebrow at the second guy, who's looking at Sam like he's grown a second head, and Dean snorts softly at the image, "we think there might be more truth to it than you guys thought."

"I knew it!" a third one exclaims, turning to the nerdy one with a triumphant grin, "see, Logan, ghosts do exist, the FBI knows about them!" The nerdy kid, Logan, sighs heavily and turns to the first guy, like he's looking for direction.

"So what do you want to know?" the blondish guy asks Sam, "Logan and Carlos were the ones that tried to catch it first, they came to get me and James for help once they filmed it." He gestures vaguely to each of the others as he names them, and Dean makes an incredulous noise as the kid identifies the one that Dean had been sure was a girl as James.

"James?" he asks, looking at the guy, who flushes a little under his scrutiny and crosses his arms defiantly, "you're a dude?" Sam immediately elbows him in the side, scowling.

"Stop that," he says firmly, and Dean can't stop staring at the James guy, because he really, honest to god thought this kid was a girl.

"Are you sure he's not a girl?" he asks, feeling like he's all of a sudden lost control of his mouth, and Sam turns to smack him again.

"Shut. Up." he orders, "you are not helping." Dean shuts his mouth as Sam starts talking to the kids again, and Dean takes the opportunity to walk around the hotel lobby, searching for clues that might help them figure out what the fuck is going on here.

Sam walks over after a few minutes of talking to the boys, looking frustrated. "I have no idea why Bobby sent us here," he says, sighing, "from what the four of them say the "ghost" was another kid here, they have her on tape and everything. The one kid, Kendall, is going to bring the tape down. Have you found anything?"

"No," Dean replies, annoyed, "we'll just have to hope that tape has something on it, I guess. Come on, let's go find a motel so we can figure out what the fuck we're doing here." Sam nods and they find a cheap motel a few blocks away, and Dean immediately collapses on the bed, exhausted.

"Did you know that kid was a dude?" he asks after a moment, craning his head up to look at his brother, who rolls his eyes.

"No," he says, "but you have got to have more tact, dude, don't make fun of the kid because he's a little girly."

"He wasn't a little girly," Dean protests, "he was a lot girly."

"Shut up," Sam says, exasperated, and Dean takes his advice, falling asleep almost immediately.


	2. Chapter 2

When Sam and Dean return the next morning they're immediately greeted by the four boys, and Dean reminds himself to keep his mouth shut when he looks at the James kid. The tall blondish one, Kendall, hands Sam the tape that supposedly has the spirit on it, looking apprehensive.

"So now what?" he asks, and Sam shakes his head a little.

"Now we watch it, and see if there's anything on it that might explain what's going on here," he says, and the Kendall guy raises one of his oversized eyebrows at Sam, looking skeptical.

"What is going on here?" he asks, and Dean shrugs.

"We're not sure yet," he says, "but you'll know as soon as we do." The kid seems to accept that as an answer, but there's a look on his face that tells Dean if they don't give him a good explanation he's going to be a problem.

Dean and Sam sit down to watch the tape in the manager's office, and Dean swears he tries not to laugh at these kids trying to catch a ghost with vacuum cleaners but it's really fucking hard. There's nothing on the tape that's even remotely helpful, so they decide to search the hotel, hoping to come across something that will explain why they're here.

It takes almost a whole day of searching through the hotel, and Sam leaves after the first hour to go do some research, but Dean finally hits on something in the basement. The EMF detector in his hand is finally registering something, thank god, so Dean immediately calls Sam down, hoping he's found something in his research that will help.

"What'd you find?" Sam asks as he comes down the stairs, looking hopeful.

"The fucking EMF finally found something," Dean says, "please tell me you found something too." Sam nods, pulling a paper out of the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Do you ever feel like we keep hearing the same story over and over again?" he asks, shaking his head a little, "apparently this hotel was built on the site of an old Hollywood production company. Some actor got fired for being a crappy actor, went nuts, killed himself and the director who fired him and a few other people. From what I could tell there haven't been any reports of vengeful spirits, something must have happened to disturb him." He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

"I watched that tape again, too," he says, "and if you watch it closely you can see someone standing in the background, just watching that girl terrorize the boys and the hotel manager. I talked to the guys again, and they swear up and down there was no one in the lobby that night but the four of them, the manager, and the girl."

"Did you find out anything about this guy that went nuts?" Dean asks, glad to see Sam nod again.

"There wasn't a whole lot, but I found a little bit," he says, "apparently he was like, twenty when he killed himself, only a little older than most of the kids at this hotel. I'm guessing he's been around every night since last week, but no one's paid attention to him because it's a hotel for young actors." Dean nods, glad they've finally fucking found something, because this place kind of sucks. A lot.

"So we'll stake out the lobby tonight?" he asks, hoping they can be out of here soon.

"Yeah, we just have to find a way to make sure that none of the tenants come downstairs tonight," he says, "that Bitters guys said there's a curfew in place for the kids, but that won't stop their parents."

"That guy's a dick," Dean says, scowling, "just station him by the elevators and give him a bat, that'll be enough to scare anyone off." Sam laughs a little at that, and they hash out plans to keep people out of the lobby that night, hoping they'll be able to finish this.

The lobby finally clears out around midnight, and it takes Dean a lot not to pull out his gun to scare the stragglers off, because seriously, don't people sleep anymore?They sit there and wait for another twenty minutes, willing this spirit to show up, when the door to the stairs open and the four guys from earlier walk through, looking determined.

"We want to help," the shortest one, Carlos, Dean remembers, says, and Dean shakes his head.

"Go back upstairs," he says, hoping they'll listen, and the nerdy one shakes his head, looking defiant.

"We know you're not really FBI agents, or whatever you're pretending to be," he says, and damn if this kid's not really smart, "so you can either let us help you or we can call the police and you go to jail for impersonating a federal agent." Dean laughs a little.

"Kid, I've been to Hell, going to jail would be like vacation," he says, smirking as the kid's eyes get wide, "and trust me, you don't want to be down here if something goes wrong."

"Dean, shut up," Sam says, rolling his eyes before turning to the guys, "but he's right, you guys should go back upstairs." The kids all shake their heads, and Sam looks like he's going to protest but Dean stops him with a hand on Sam's arm. Clearly there's no way they're getting these stupid kids upstairs without forcibly moving them, and Dean isn't interested in dragging anyone anywhere right now.

The night passes without so much as a hiccup, no spirits or ghosts or fucking _anything_, and Dean tries really hard not to get pissed, but then the Logan kid shoots him a smug smile and Dean has to restrain himself from slapping him upside the head.

"What the fuck?" he hisses at Sam, who shrugs, looking completely baffled.

"I have no idea," he says, "unless we missed something?" Dean nods, shooting a glare at the boys, who immediately take the hint and leave, thank god.

"We need to go do more research," Sam says, looking annoyed. They head back to the motel to start going over everything Sam found earlier, shocked when all of Sam's research is untraceable, like it never existed.

"Something fishy's going on here," Dean says, eyeing his brother, "this feels like a setup." Sam nods in agreement, frowning down at his laptop.

"I don't get it," he says softly, turning to look at Dean, "but those guys are connected to this somehow, they have to be. Let's go back and talk to them." Dean nods apprehensively, not sure how a bunch of seventeen year olds are connected to a fake haunting, but it's the best lead they have so he figures they might as well go with it.


	3. Chapter 3

Carlos sighs as he and the guys flop down on the couch in the apartment, disappointed that they'd spent the whole night in the lobby for nothing. Logan had seemed really unsure of those agents when they first came to the Palmwoods, and had immediately found some website or other to see if they were really with the FBI, listing out all these reasons why they couldn't have been. Carlos had just shaken his head and gone down the swirly slide a few times, knowing Logan would come find him when he was ready.

He'd been right, of course, Carlos muses, smiling as Logan slides over to him, resting his head on Carlos's shoulder, but then again, Logan is always right. Carlos wraps an arm around Logan as they spend an hour or so just watching TV the four of them, James falling asleep against Kendall's side, until there's a knock on the door.

Logan sighs a little as he gets up to answer it, and Carlos can see the surprise on his face when the fake agents are standing at the door.

"What do you want?" Logan asks, and Carlos can practically see the look on his face. Kendall gently shakes James awake as Logan moves to let the agents in, who are both dressed in street clothes and look completely different. Logan shakes his head and walks out of the room, and Carlos turns to see Kendall eyeing the agents curiously.

"We want to talk to you again," the taller one, the one that had said he was Agent Jones, says, walking into the living room and glancing around like he's looking for something. The shorter guy, Agent Taylor, is staring around their apartment in awe, looking impressed.

"Dude, this apartment is awesome," he says to the other agent, before turning to Carlos, "you have a slide in here?" Carlos laughs and gets up, gesturing the guy over as his partner (or whatever) sits down next to James and Kendall and starts asking them questions.

"It was an adventure, getting this place fixed up," Carlos says as the agent stares up at the swirly slide in awe, raising an eyebrow when the agent frowns and walks over to the window, swiping his finger along the windowsill.

"Sam, get over here," the agent says urgently, pointing at the windowsill once the other guy walks over, "please tell me that's not what I think it is." The other guy, Sam, swipes his finger along the windowsill too, raising his eyebrows in concern.

"It's sulfur," the Sam guy says, turning to look at his partner, "Dean, where's that other kid?"

"Right here," Logan says as he walks in, eyeing Sam and Dean suspiciously, "did you find what you're looking for?"

"We think we might have found something," Sam says, raising an eyebrow at Logan, and Carlos sees a strange expression pass over his face. Logan nods and walks up behind Carlos, twining his arms around Carlos's waist as he eyes Sam and Dean.

"Can we borrow that tape again?" Sam asks, looking at Kendall and James, who are still on the couch, and Kendall nods.

"Yeah, it's over on the shelf," he says, gesturing towards the TV, "keep it as long as you need to." Sam nods, going over to get the tape and then he and Dean are leaving, and Carlos can feel Logan breathe a sigh of relief. He turns in Logan's arms, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You okay?" he asks as he leads them back over to the couch and plops down, and Logan nods as he makes himself comfortable back at Carlos's side.

"I'm fine, I just wish they'd stop bothering us," Logan says, sighing a little, "if they're faking being federal agents they can get into a lot of trouble, and I don't want any of us getting involved with that, Gustavo'll kill us." Carlos thinks Logan has a good point, and they spend the rest of the day watching TV and playing table hockey, glad this whole thing with the fake ghost seems to be over.

Dean and Sam spend the rest of the day watching that tape and scoping out the hotel a little more - they don't find anything anywhere, aside from that apartment, and Dean's really fucking frustrated. The tape doesn't have anything on it, and Dean scowls as he chucks it at the wall, smiling in satisfaction when it shatters.

"Dean," Sam says, exasperated, "stop that." Dean lets out a frustrated noise and Sam comes over to sit next to him, tentatively wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"Look, at least we know there's a demon here," Sam reasons, squeezing Dean gently, "so all we have to do is find it and kill it and then we can leave. This place kind of sucks."

"Dude, this place blows," Dean says vehemently, turning to rest his head on Sam's shoulder, "I can't wait until we can get the hell out of here."

"Me either," Sam says, sighing softly, "but we need to go back to that apartment tonight, that Logan kid was giving me a weird look after he came back."

"A weird look like a 'he's possessed' look?" Dean asks, tilting his head up to look at Sam, who nods. "Dude, he's just a kid, I can't believe he's possessed."

"Better safe than sorry," Sam says, "we'll bring the kid holy water, that way if he's not possessed he won't realise what we're doing."

"Okay," Dean says, "let's go out and have a drink first, though, I need one." Sam laughs and they head out to find a bar, making Dean wish he could actually get drunk and not have to be responsible and sober.


	4. Chapter 4

They head back to the hotel around eight that night, knocking on the door of the apartment that's actually kind of really awesome, and Dean sort of wishes he'd had a slide in his bedroom when he was sixteen. Sam smiles when the James kid opens the door, but Dean does a double take. James is shirtless, and Dean swears he's not a pedophile, but holy fuck, this kid is ripped. He knows he's probably staring, but his brain is kind of beyond his control, it takes a lot of focus to tear his eyes away from the kid's torso, distantly wondering how much he can bench.

"Hi," James says hesitantly, eyeing Dean with dislike, and Dean guesses he doesn't really blame the kid, not after Dean just eye fucked him, "what's up?"

"We want to talk to you guys again," Dean says, staring the kid down until he moves and lets them in, "you have a few minutes?" James shrugs and walks over towards the Kendall kid, who smiles at them.

"Can I get you something to drink?" he asks, and fuck if that isn't the perfect suggestion, so Dean nods, checking the pocket of his jacket to make sure the holy water is still there.

"Sure, let me help you," he says, following Kendall into the kitchen, tipping the flask into each of the drinks when the kid's not looking. They carry them all back out into the living room, and the other two are there now too, and Dean wonders where their good luck came from, because this never happens.

"So we came by to ask you a few more questions," Sam says, taking a sip of his drink, "have you guys noticed anything weird around here lately?"

"Like what?" Kendall asks, and Dean watches closely as he takes a drink, sighing internally when nothing happens.

"Anything," Dean says, noticing Sam watching as Carlos drinks from his glass too, "but specifically things like black smoke, or the smell of sulfur."

"I haven't noticed anything," James says, and thank fuck, he put a shirt on, "should we have?"

"Ideally, no," Sam says, eyeing James carefully as he brings the glass up to his lips and takes a sip, and Dean is just about to wonder if they're completely barking up the wrong tree when Logan lets out a scream of pain, dropping the glass on the floor, where it shatters. Dean and Sam immediately pull their guns and point them at Logan, whose eyes are black.

"Bet you didn't expect that, did you?" Dean asks with a smirk, and the next thing he knows he's flying across the room and slamming into the wall, groaning as he looks up at the demon advancing on him.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to try something so obvious," it says, twisting Logan's face into a smirk, and Dean gropes for the holy water, unscrewing the lid of the flask and slinging some at the demon, smiling grimly when it screams in pain again, smoke billowing from its skin.

"Stop it!" Carlos shouts in horror, running toward the demon, turning to throw a punch at Sam when he grabs the kid, "what the fuck, let me go!"

"Well, this has been fun," the demon sneers, "but as much as I'd love to stay and kill the legendary Winchesters, I have better ways to spend my time." Dean moves to get up, only to be thrown across the room again, and when the stars finally clear from his vision the demon is gone, along with the Kendall kid.

"Fuck!" Sam exclaims angrily, turning to glare at Dean, "why the hell did you put the holy water in then, you idiot, we had no way of keeping it here, and now it's got another one of the kids!"

"Yeah, and salting the doors and windows is real subtle, Sammy, it never would've gotten suspicious if it'd seen that," Dean retorts, glaring at his brother, "what the fuck did you want me to do? Hand it the flask and say 'here, try this?'" Sam sighs, releasing his hold on Carlos, who looks devastated.

"What the fuck is going on?" James says softly, advancing on Dean, "you'd better have a good explanation for what just happened."

Dean scowls, because he really _doesn't_ have a good explanation, so he looks at Sam, hoping his brother will know what to say. Sam scowls at him before looking over at Carlos and James with concern.

"What is going on?" James repeats, and if Dean's completely honest the kid's a little scary now that he knows the kind of muscles he's got underneath that t-shirt.

"Your friend is possessed by a demon," Sam finally says, sighing heavily, "we have to find him, and exorcise it before it can do any damage to him, or to anything else." Carlos makes a noise, and Dean looks over at him, and the kid's got a look on his face that sort of reminds Dean of when his dad told him he had to kill Sam if he couldn't save him.

"We need a plan," he says after a moment, looking over at Sam, "we need to lure it back."

"We'll help," Carlos says, James nodding determinedly in agreement, and this time Dean doesn't try to argue, because he knows (even though it was sort of obvious before) that there's more between these guys than just friendship, and if it was Sam…well, Dean's been to Hell for his brother, that says a lot.

"How do you exorcise a demon?" Carlos asks hesitantly after a moment, looking unsure, "it doesn't…it's not going to hurt Logan, is it?"

"No," Sam says immediately, and Dean feels for this kid, he really does, because having someone you love possessed always sucks. Carlos nods resolutely, turning to James.

"So what do we need to do?" James asks after exchanging a look with Carlos, and Dean sighs, because what the hell can these kids actually do to help them?

"I'm not sure," he says honestly, "we need to figure out how to convince it to come back here.

"I might be able to," Carlos says, looking at Dean, "it's still Logan, right?"

"Kid…" Dean says, not sure how to explain this in a way that won't freak him the fuck out, "yeah, it's still your friend, but he doesn't have any control. The demon's using his body like a puppet, it takes a lot of strength of will to be able to take it back, and it's usually not for long."

"Boyfriend," Carlos says softly, looking devastated, "Logan's my boyfriend. And I am going to get him back, so whatever I have to do to make that happen I'll do."

"Okay," Sam says, walking over to the couch and sitting down, motioning for the others to join him, "if you think you can get through to him we'll try that, but we need a backup plan."

"What about Kendall?" James asks as he and Carlos sit down on the couch, sounding scared, "what's going to happen to him?" Carlos turns to James, reaching out to squeeze his knee reassuringly.

"Nothing," Dean says firmly, because they're not letting anything happen to these kids, "the hard part is going to be finding them, is there any place around that either of you can think of that a demon might be drawn to?" James shakes his head, looking dejected.

"We'll figure it out," Sam says reassuringly, reaching out to clasp James's shoulder, "we'll get your friends back, I promise."

"Okay," James says softly, and they spend the next few hours trying to make some kind of plan to trick the demon back to the hotel.

They finally hammer out a plan of action after about three hours, and Dean has to explain to the kids that they can't just go rushing out to rescue Kendall and Logan, because demons are tricky bastards and it'll probably see that coming. They agree to wait it out for the rest of the evening, and Dean reaches out to grab the TV remote, hoping to distract the guys from worrying about their friends. They're startled out of their reverie by a cellphone ringing, and James pulls it out of his pocket, eyes widening.

"It's Kendall's number," he says softly, looking up at Sam and Dean, "should I answer it?"

"Of course you should fucking answer it!" Dean exclaims, "hurry, before the voicemail gets it!" They watch closely as James flips his phone open and holds it up to his ear.

"Kendall?" he asks hesitantly, like he's worried the phone is going to burn him, "is that you?"

"_James, thank god," _Kendall's voice says, loud enough for the others to hear, "_James, what the hell is going on, what happened to Logan?"_

"He's possessed by a demon," James says, gesturing to Sam and Dean frantically, "Kendall, where are you?"

"_I'm not sure," _they hear, and Dean sees James's face fall.

"Tell him to describe it," he hisses, and James nods.

"Can you describe it?" he asks softly, and Dean can see the worry on his face, like he thinks this is the last time he's ever going to hear the other guy's voice.

"_It's some kind of abandoned building,"_ comes through the phone, "_it took us like, a half hour to get here. Jamie, I have no idea where we are, how the hell are you going to find us?"_

"We'll find you," James says, looking at Sam desperately, who's pulled out his laptop to see if he can find the place Kendall described, "I promise, Kendall, we'll find you." He looks down at the phone when there's no answer, and Dean sees him start to shake a little when they all see the call's been ended.

"I found something," Sam says, breaking the silence, "there's an old production lot a few miles from here, it'd take about half hour to get to if you had a car."

"Which means the demon stole one," Dean says, furrowing his brow in concentration. "Okay, so we need to get there, but we gotta figure out a way to keep it from escaping." He looks over at Carlos, who nods determinedly.

"Tell me what I need to do," he says, and Dean really wishes they didn't have to involve these kids, but it's probably the best chance they have, so they'll just have to deal.

"Okay," Sam says after a few minutes, looking up at the rest of them. "We need to make a trap for it, and then find a way to lure it out," he says, looking over at Carlos.

"I think that's going to have to be your job," he says, and Dean can see how much he hates this, having to use this kid as bait, "you'll go in first, and get the demon to come out into the trap." He turns to Dean.

"You'll cover Carlos," he tells Dean, looking over at James when he makes a noise that sounds a lot like he's trying to choke back despair.

"Your job will be to get Kendall as soon as the demon's out of its hiding place," he goes on, and James nods, looking a little relieved that he's been given the task he obviously wants.

"There's one thing though," Dean says once Sam is finished speaking, "you're not going anywhere without something to defend yourselves." James and Carlos look at him, confused, and Dean really hates this, having to ask them what he's about to ask them, but they don't have a choice if they're going to pull this off.

"Do either of you know how to handle a gun?" he asks, frowning when they both shake their heads, eyes wide.

"Okay," he says, turning to Sam, "we'll teach you."

"I'm not shooting anyone!" Carlos protests, "I thought you said this wouldn't hurt Logan!"

"It won't," Sam soothes, "but demons are...allergic, you could say, to rock salt, it repels them. If you hit a demon with salt it'll cripple them, but it won't hurt the person they're possessing, not like a bullet would." Carlos looks moderately placated, and Dean figures that's good enough for now.

"Fine," he says, and Dean stands up, motioning for the three of them to follow him outside.

Twenty minutes later Sam and Dean are in an empty parking lot with Carlos and James, showing them how to fire the salt rounds, and Dean doesn't think he's ever seen such determined kids before. They take to it reasonably well, James is a better shot than Carlos, which is probably better since he's not the one they're using as bait. They give them another few minutes to practice before piling into the Impala and heading for the production lot Sam thinks the demon is using as a hideout, and Dean really, really hopes he'll be able to keep his promise that no one is going to get killed.


End file.
